, 1887-06-16
IN A FRENCH pAwNsHop.
Going Through the Who'll Experience
~, DEMONSTRATING One,a Ihentitr

N''A- - ~ " prTIenCC OF
IT. dgihS-ProyIng Ones Identity.
\ person curious to see something OF
the working of the Paris Mont de Piete
can do SO without pawning any of his
property. He can mingle with the crowd
whom necessity or vice has brought there
without risk of being questioned by off,
Gals or being stared at inquisitively, for
every u is too intent upon his own bust
ness to give any thought to others. But
to obtain "A vivid impression of the differ
ent circles Of this inferno it is necessary
to go through the whole experience OF
pledging and redceming. No one who
Gid this once could possibly wish to re-
peat tue experiment. The lazar house
or The prison can alone offer a parallel to
the depressing influences OF the Mont de
Picte.
We will take for illustration the one in
the Rue Bouaparte, which is an ofTshoot
TO the parent house in the Rue des Blancs-
hlanteaux, but which Is itself vast enough
TO quarter q large body of soldiers. 1t
is entered from the street by an archway,
over which hangs n dirty ~tricolor. A
sentry is also posted as q further token of
authority. The passage leads to a court
surrounded by buildings which are the
offices and ~storehouses Of the Mont de
Piete. Those who come to pledge single
out the door on which the word En-
gagements' is painted. 1t leads to n low
room, SO dimly lighted hat on entering
the details cannot be distinctly seen. The
floor is paved with tiles and the walls and
ceiling are almost black with dirt. The
air is dense, sitting and m~alodorous.
There are twenty or thirty people waiting
here-some standing, others sitting upon
benches placed against the walls. All are
silent, or they speak under their breath.
AT least half of them belong to what
may be termed the respectable working
class; others wear all the signs of abiect
misery and vice; others, again, belong to
the impenetrable, well dressed class, re-
speeding whose position in life only guesses
can be made.
AT the opening through which comes
the glare of the lamp is a counter, toward
which people make their way as they en-
ter. On the other side of it q man in a
blouse appears every few minutes, takes
a bundle or a box that has been placed on
the counter, gives a metal number in ex-
change for it, and disappears. The per-
son h has given up the article he has
come to pledge waits attentively until he
hears his number called by somebody
whom he does not see, but who is on the
other side Of a wooden partition that
serves for ono of the walls of the room.
At the same time this official calls out the
amount which the Mont de Piete is pre-
pared to lend upon the article or articles
which correspond to the number. The
owner sometimes grumbles at the sum
offered, but the almost invariable reply is
''Bien, monsieur" The functionaries do
not condescend to bargain with the crowd
in the waiting room, whom they treat as
If they were paupers applying for relief.
The sum having been agreed to. it may
be supposed that the money is then paid
over the ounter and the business ended.
Not at all; such a plain and %straightfor-
ward proceeding would be contrary to
the most sacred traditions of French of
fetal practice. Much formality has to be
gone through and much writing to be
done before the transaction is complete.
Meanwhile the applicant has to wait half
an hour or even an hour, if there are
many people before him, until he hears
his number called out again. lie now
pushes open a swinging door in the
wooden partition, and follows a rallied
passage which brings him into the pres
nee of two surly clerks sitting behind a
counter. One asks questions and makes
entries in a huge book, and the other fills
up the pawn tickets, which are sheets Of
paper closely printed and written over,
and pays the money. The applicant must
state his name, address and profession.
Then he must show papers to prove that
he is telling the truth. If it should hap
pen that he has not brought with him the
receipt for the last rent he paid, or some
other document to prove his identity, he
is sent away without the money.-St.
James Gazette.